from the press Planet°

nature in cities

With an ever-expanding portion of the global population migrating to cities, it is urban environments that represent the known world for so many. But the realm of experience that someone comes to have in an urban space can actually share a fair amount with what others encounter in places far removed from the busy centers of human development.

That's the idea behind an exciting new journal on the personal experience of nature among urban dwellers. Developed in 2008 by three Rotterdam-based Dutch editors, Club Donny is published biannually as a global survey of the ways in which city life intersects with the natural forces that often prove to be even more powerful than the engineering marvels of steel and concrete that dominate most visions of the modern metropolis.

'We offer a platform that aims to bring into the limelight observations, coincidences, stories and encounters of the obvious and sometimes absurd existence of nature in cities,' co-founder Ernst Van der Hoeven tells PLANET.

Such a mission is accomplished through an often whimsical, sometimes breathtaking array of photographed scenes, many of them juxtaposed against counter images on opposite pages. There is also the written component of the journal, a collection of literary pieces in each issue that read like fever dream travelogues about personal revelations and external observations in far-flung locales.

In the midst of this, there's helpful advice about building a flagstone patio – start at the outside edges, and work your way in. We learn that although beautiful to look at, the Solanaceae family of plants are poisonous to us humans, so beware. And in perhaps the most successful written feature so far, we travel to Detroit's inner city, where community gardeners share their experiences tilling the soil, proving that you don't have to be born a farmer to get back in touch with your roots.

Unlike the more exclusive clubs, readers are invited to engage in this one by submitting their own work online and becoming participants in a conversation about life against urbanized backdrops.

Planet° | Jordan Sayle | Dec 7, 2011